Weinstein's sexual abuse plot could end with millions of victims' compensation and little sorority
Harvey Weinstein reaches an agreement of 22 million with more than 30 victims that would exempt him from all guilt
The case that gave rise to the MeToo movement may end up being diluted by checkbook blow. Harvey Weinstein, "almighty Hollywood producer" until 2017 and "sexual predator" later, has reached an interim agreement with about thirty alleged victims of his abuses. The terms: 25 million dollars (22 million euros) and there will be no trial or recognition of responsibilities. So much battle, so many heroic pronouncements, so much sorority, for such a prosaic end?
Not yet. The agreement requires the approval of all parties, including the courts. The money would cover, according to The New York Times , all claims for "inappropriate sexual behavior" and not even would be paid by Weinstein, whose company is bankrupt, but insurers. A disappointment for those who demand their head, but bird in hand for most complainants , especially after several lawsuits have been dismissed. If the agreement is closed, the Weinstein file would be reduced to two criminal cases, one for rape and one for abuse.
It is possible that judicially the case ends up being the birth of the mountains, but it has caused a social earthquake that has had planetary aftershocks thanks to the MeToo movement. For better and for worse. He exploded, for example, the scandal of Larry Nassar, a doctor of the American gymnastics team, which ended the pedophile condemned in perpetuity.
But at the same time, what began as a rebellion against sexual abuse from positions of power has led to a crusade that tramples on the presumption of innocence and promotes paranoid puritanism. Kevin Spacey and Woody Allen have been exonerated in court but convicted of their guild. Retrospective blows also suffer Roman Polanski. Placido Domingo resists in Europe. Assassination of reputation and professional murder: no shootings, no premieres or awards. Civil death, as in Stalin's time.
The MeToo gave rise to "I do believe you", which twinned real and false victims and promoted a fantasy story. Like Chus Lampreave in his role as "witness" of Jehovah, women never lie and cases are sentenced on social media.
This inquisitorial atmosphere was denounced a couple of years ago by a hundred French intellectuals and artists, led by Catherine Millet, in a memorable text that distinguished between "a violation and insistent or clumsy flirting; between gallantry and macho aggression", defended "the freedom to import as a requirement for sexual freedom" and ended up warning of the totalitarian climate that was unleashing the MeToo. Naturally, they were sentenced to the stake.
The MeToo has served so that lazy despots and bastards do not feel safe and that is very good. And not in Hollywood, but in the factory, the supermarket or the insurance office. The counterpoint is that in the United States men begin to not want to work with women, or climb alone with them by elevator. Wall Street will end up like an Opus college, with sex segregation.
The latest Clint Eastwood movie, Richard Jewell , is now in the spotlight . It tells the (real) story of a security guard who helped prevent an attack at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and that the FBI and the press became the main suspect. The film is based on a book and an investigation by Vanity Fair, which recounted that man's ordeal and the infamous role of the media, especially the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Eastwood is accused of machismo for suggesting in a scene that reporter Kathy Scruggs (who existed and has died) goes to bed with an FBI agent in exchange for information. The actress who plays her, Olivia Wilde, has responded that the macho thing is that interpretation. The journalist was a free and bold woman and had a previous relationship with the agent. Does not matter. Atlanta threatens a lawsuit to "save the honor" of its reporter, although it seems more like trying to launder its own lack of ethics in the Jewell case. We will have to see the movie. They release it in January.
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